90. We Don’t Play Guitars – Chicks On Speed featuring Peaches

For a parody of the current music scene, this is a pretty good song. Chicks On Speed are themselves, in a way, a parody of the current musical scene. Released in 2003, We Don’t Play Guitars is the best known song of the multicultural band. Featuring main vocals from the Australian member of the band, Alex Murray-Leslie, and a guitar solo by controversial electro musician Peaches, this song parodies the mainstream music scene by stating how the band does not play guitars.

Chicks On Speed have been said to have perfectly defined the German electro-clash movement of the early 2000’s, and in a way, this song is evidence why. With snappy vocals, hypnotic beats and rhythmic basslines, the song manages to culminate in a concoction of serious parody and sheer stupidity. The lyrics themselves are not purposely genius. In fact, they are so bland that they become genius. Such lyrics as “We can go shopping in the supermarket but we don’t play guitars, we shop more than other people, we don’t play guitars. Can you play guitar?” perfectly show things that the band prefer to do in lieu of playing guitar. In fact, the band are almost stating that playing guitar has become so overrated that electronic music is the way of the future.  While this is probably incorrect, there is a rather smart rebuttal by Peaches directly before the guitar solo; “You may not play guitars but I do! You know, maybe COS don’t play guitars but P.E.A.C.H.E.S plays guitar, I play guitar, that’s right, I play guitar. Well you may not play guitar, but I play guitar, and I love it!“ This almost proves that both arguments in the song are actually invalid and that both guitars and the lack thereof can still make an awesome song.

Close Competitors:

Culture Vulture

Culture Vulture seems to continue the musical parody that Chicks On Speed like to employ. In what is essentially a great criticism of culture itself, the band deconstructs the vanity and the joys of a cultural icon. By exaggerating these things greatly the band is able to almost make culture itself laughable. However, the song itself is rather disturbing. The deep, spoken vocals tend to make me feel very uneasy before the repeated refrain is shouted. Hearing the words Culture Vulture shouted repeatedly makes me feel very strange when I listen to the song. Despite this however, the message that the song tends to put across defines this song as not only a deliciously disturbing song, but also an amazingly poignant message.

Advertisement